Americans needed some reassuring economic news, and on Friday they received a double dose: First, a blowout jobs report for December, followed by a tacit admission by Chairman Jerome Powell that he had messed up at his December press conference by suggesting the Federal Reserve is on “auto-pilot” on its tightening course.

Markets reacted with a big vote of confidence, sending the Dow Jones average up 3.3% and the Nasdaq 4.3%. The equity rally roared right past continuing political rancor in Washington over a partial government shutdown that may not end soon—a sign that policy gridlock wouldn’t be the worst outcome over the next two years.

The labor report could hardly have been better, with employers creating 312,000 new jobs in the last month of 2018, plus an upward revision of 58,000 for October and November. The unemployment rate rose to 3.9% from 3.7%, but that was also good news as 419,000 workers joined the labor force. Many haven’t yet found work, but the flood of job seekers suggests the U.S. still isn’t at full employment.

They’re being drawn by more openings and rising pay. One intriguing note is that the number of job leavers rose in the month by 142,000 to 839,000. This reflects workers’ confidence that they can find a better job at better pay in what is the best U.S. labor market since the middle of the last decade.

We’d note in particular that manufacturers added 32,000 jobs in December, for an increase of 2.3% for 2018. That’s impressive for an expansion now into its ninth year, and it shows the benefit of the new capital investment spurred by tax reform and deregulation. Manufacturing employment fell by 210,000 during Barack Obama’s two terms. It has risen by 473,000 jobs in Donald Trump’s first two years.

Employers are also paying more as average hourly earnings rose again and are now up 3.2% in the last year. That’s the fastest rate since before the financial panic and it looks set to continue as businesses compete to hire and retain the best workers.

The trend is spreading even to traditionally lower-paid corners of the economy. Wages in retail trades are up 4.6% for the year and 5.5% for the last three months. Leisure and hospitality wages for production-level workers rose 4.3% for the year and 5.1% in the last quarter. If this keeps up, Senator Elizabeth Warren will have to retool her 2020 campaign message that the middle class is vanishing.

Amid this good news, the worry is that the labor market is a lagging economic indicator. The December report suggests considerable underlying economic strength, but recent evidence shows signs of softening in manufacturing, tightening credit markets, and declines in consumer and business confidence. The declines in the stock market and bond yields have also raised fears of slowing growth.

Which brings us to Mr. Powell, who sent stocks soaring with comments Friday that the Fed isn’t on a “pre-set” course to keep raising interest rates in 2019. “With the muted inflation readings that we’ve seen coming in, we will be patient as we watch to see how the economy evolves,” Mr. Powell told a conference in Atlanta. Hear, hear.

That’s about as close a central banker will come to acknowledging that the Fed made a mistake in raising rates again in December amid credit-market cracks, a strong dollar, falling bond yields and commodity prices, and no signs of inflation. Mr. Powell had seemed almost cavalier at his press conference about rate increases and the steady decline in the Fed’s balance sheet. On Friday he showed more caution about the pace of this combo-tightening maneuver that no central bank has executed before.

The Fed would repeat its December error if it considers the strong job report as vindication and returns to rote tightening. Rising wages aren’t inflationary if they reflect gains in labor productivity, which surged in 2018. The flow of new workers into the labor force also suggests room to grow faster even with a jobless rate at a historically low 3.9%. The labor participation rate is up 0.4 percentage points to 63.1% in the last year, but a surge of younger people of working age means that rate has room to rise.

All of this suggests the U.S. economy is poised to keep growing in 2019, despite slower growth around the world. The Fed aside, the key policy variable is trade. Businesses are waiting on investments as they see how Mr. Trump’s multifront tariff spree plays out. If the President strikes a deal with China, removes his car-tariff threat, and doesn’t blow up Nafta, the uncertainty would ebb and good times could continue to roll.

Trump's policies are good for the average worker. oBUMa's globalist policies are good for the top 1%.

Recessions are part of the business cycle, Neverfail. The economy has been expanding for nearly 10 years. By the end of oBUMa's term, economy was already slowing down and a recession was in the cards. But Trump's policies prolonged it by two years.

Oho, so you now concede that the US economy grew quite a bit during Obama's tenure?

It is no coincidence, neverail. Tax cuts and deregulation helped to give it a boost.

That might even be true cass. But it still does not exonerate Trump from a deserved impeachment should he be proven as guilty of even half the lawbreaking and committer of improprieties in public office as are alleged.

My one and only regret is that it had to await the arrival of a Democrats majority in Congress to make such a course possible. It clouds the waters by making the initiative look partisan. But alas, that's the American system for you.

I do hope that you are not seriously suggesting that Trump should be placed above the law just because he has presided over a latter-day fillip in economic growth.

It is no coincidence, neverail. Tax cuts and deregulation helped to give it a boost.

That might even be true cass. But it still does not exonerate Trump from a deserved impeachment should he be proven as guilty of even half the lawbreaking and committer of improprieties in public office as are alleged.

My one and only regret is that it had to await the arrival of a Democrats majority in Congress to make such a course possible. It clouds the waters by making the initiative look partisan. But alas, that's the American system for you.

I do hope that you are not seriously suggesting that Trump should be placed above the law just because he has presided over a latter-day fillip in economic growth.

There has been a Mueller investigation for two years. So far, I don't see any evidence of wrongdoing. Let's wait and see. His report should be out soon.

It is no coincidence, neverail. Tax cuts and deregulation helped to give it a boost.

That might even be true cass. But it still does not exonerate Trump from a deserved impeachment should he be proven as guilty of even half the lawbreaking and committer of improprieties in public office as are alleged.

My one and only regret is that it had to await the arrival of a Democrats majority in Congress to make such a course possible. It clouds the waters by making the initiative look partisan. But alas, that's the American system for you.

I do hope that you are not seriously suggesting that Trump should be placed above the law just because he has presided over a latter-day fillip in economic growth.

There has been a Mueller investigation for two years. So far, I don't see any evidence of wrongdoing. Let's wait and see. His report should be out soon.

It is no coincidence, neverail. Tax cuts and deregulation helped to give it a boost.

That might even be true cass. But it still does not exonerate Trump from a deserved impeachment should he be proven as guilty of even half the lawbreaking and committer of improprieties in public office as are alleged.

My one and only regret is that it had to await the arrival of a Democrats majority in Congress to make such a course possible. It clouds the waters by making the initiative look partisan. But alas, that's the American system for you.

I do hope that you are not seriously suggesting that Trump should be placed above the law just because he has presided over a latter-day fillip in economic growth.

There has been a Mueller investigation for two years. So far, I don't see any evidence of wrongdoing. Let's wait and see. His report should be out soon.

It is no coincidence, neverail. Tax cuts and deregulation helped to give it a boost.

That might even be true cass. But it still does not exonerate Trump from a deserved impeachment should he be proven as guilty of even half the lawbreaking and committer of improprieties in public office as are alleged.

My one and only regret is that it had to await the arrival of a Democrats majority in Congress to make such a course possible. It clouds the waters by making the initiative look partisan. But alas, that's the American system for you.

I do hope that you are not seriously suggesting that Trump should be placed above the law just because he has presided over a latter-day fillip in economic growth.

There has been a Mueller investigation for two years. So far, I don't see any evidence of wrongdoing. Let's wait and see. His report should be out soon.

So far, Mueller has not publicly revealed any links Trump had with the Russians. That was Mueller's investigation all about.

Why are you using the past tense?

This objection: that Mueller hasn't proved (or revealed) something before the investigation is over, is utterly spurious. Why would you, or anyone, expect an investigation to prove or reveal something before it's over?

For all you or anyone who isn't part of the investigation knows they have proved this many times over but are keeping it to themselves, so as not to give away things to the parties under investigation. As a matter of fact that is the an obvious and likely conclusion. Why is this so hard for you, or anyone? It defies common sense and the most rudimentary understanding of law.

Why even bring it up? Why not wait till a report is issued, which there has to be?

Incidentally Mueller so far is the most effective Special Counsel / Prosecutor in US history. No other has produced so many pleas and indictments or been so circumspect and professional in the face of such howling hysteria and absurd slander.